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The crisis from ground level

The IndyMac bank run continues in California: it all sounds fairly calm and under control, so well done to the FDIC and the local authorities (from the Orange County Register, via CR):

IndyMac customers across Orange County finally were getting help with their accounts Monday after the bank reopened for the first time since it was taken over by federal regulators Friday.
It was slow-going, however, as the branches limited access to 10 or 12 customers at a time, with as many as 200 people in line. At some branches it was taking an hour or more for those admitted to complete their business...

And this pair of pictures is a good synecdoche for the property bubble: four years ago, people in California were queueing overnight to buy newly-built houses; now they're queueing to get their money out of collapsing banks.

However, the OCR article finished with this slightly worrying observation:

Meanwhile a forest of multi-colored umbrellas popped up along the sidewalk as other customers in line sought shelter from the heat and humidity. Others improvised using books, newspapers and scavenged cardboard for shade. An FDIC official walked down the line answering questions as he could...
Later a woman from Washington Mutual came by handing out water bottles -- and business cards.

Ahem.

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